Balotelli v everycunt! Broony should set out to wind him up. Looking forward to seeing the Champions League getting underway ... I'd love to see Celtic get through again but, hand on heart, I see us challenging for 3rd spot - thsi is a tough tough group - much harder than last seasons group. Europa League would be a great achievement.
How pessimistic can you be, whenever the final has been in Lisbon before we've always won it. I see no reason not to believe we will again.
We got the easiest group of all the 4rth seeds, its the group of death on names only, Barca will win it in a canter but second place is wide open. Id rate Benfica a stronger team than both the current Milan and Ajax teams, and by some way, Ajax lost their two best players and they dont look the same team without them, Eriksen and Alderweireld were huge for them. They still have Victor Fisher but hes only 19 and Bojan is a barca castoff, I wouldnt be worried about either of them single handedly ripping us apart. I expect Ajax to pass us to death in Holland but they are there for the taking at Parkhead, for the large part they are a young inexperienced team and they will crack at Parkhead, much bigger and stronger teams have. Will be down to Celtic taking their chances and not gifting easy/early goals. I would also fancy us to beat Milan at Parkhead and given their current situation, I think we have an excellent chance of getting something during the week. A good result in the first game and id have us favourite for 2nd place. Circumstances have went in our favour almost unbelievably with player sales and injuries since the draw, could be an absolute gift.
Normally, I'd say getting out of there with anything less than a 3-0 defeat, ravaged ****ters and an industrial pile of egg on our face would be decent - this Milan team are well under-rated, by the way. But, they've got so money class players who look like they're going to be injured that we must be in with a shout - that said, their starting line up against Torino was enough to fill a substantial pair of pants with the brown stuff. I think we'll lose but we've got it in us to get a result - no doubt we'll be wearing yellow for this game and the Ajax game - here's hoping for some of this please log in to view this image
Why? Because the names Robinho, Kaka and Balotelli? I dont think you have sat and watched many 90 minutes of AC Milan this season if you think they are way underrated, they arent even in the top 3 teams in Italy just now. They sold arguably their most influential player, Prince-Boateng to Schalke and have looked absolutely woeful in Serie A so far. Dont get me wrong, if they had their best 11 out they would comfortably account for Celtic in Italy, but they will be lucky to fill the subs bench on Wednesday. They came on to a game last season about midway through season and finished well with Ballotelli in form, but they are long way off that form just now. 80/1 for the CL tells you everything you need to know about this Milan team, and 350/1 Ajax, hardly the group the of death
I call it like I see it, most of the time with Celtic I dont see much good, but I like the players we've brought in and I really like our chances in the Group. Like everyone else, I wanted more money spent but I think we have done excellent business again, bar balde, and although we gambled leaving it late to spend, we got away with it, the board took a risk and got lucky. If we missed the Champions League it would be absolute turmoil just now, as a Celtic fan you need to be happy with were we are right now.
I only saw a wee bit of their game against Torino, Eddie, but I watched quite a lot of them last season when they were supposed to be a young side being re-built and I thought they were under-rated then. As well as the big names like Balotelli and Kaka, I think El-Sharaawy is one of the best players in the continent and they've signed Matri who scored twice against us last season. Other players they have I really rate include Nocerino - well under-rated midfielder, Pazzini, De Jong and Montolivo. Milan WILL be in the top 3 in Serie A this season and, even if they're missing a couple of players, they should be too good for us, sadly.
Had a feeling you were basing it on the milan off late last season. El Sharaawi is going to be one of the best in Europe, but hes not nearly there yet. Matri is nothing special and Pazzini is past his best. Agree Nocerino is probably underated but hes not the type of player who strikes fear into you, nor is Montolivo, calssy as he is. Why you think Juve let Matri go? Because they have Tevez, Llorente, Giovinco and Vucinic who are all better than him. Napoli are a much stronger side than Milan, they have better players in almost every position, Fiorentina also have better attacking quality, they are slightly suspect at the back though, and I was impressed by Inter in the second half against Juve there, they have started very strongly and these are 4 teams that I like much more than Milan, 3 of them at least have better managers as well. Id be willing to bet good money Milan dont finish in the top 3 this year, id even give you 5/2 them to finish in the top 4 if you want. (bookies are Evens them to finish top 3)
-------------------Forster Lustig-------Ambrose------Van Dijk---------Mahe --------Gravesen------Brown-----Mulgrew Matthews-------------------------------Sammy --------------------Stokes
If you are allowed 2 players for the past why Grav and Mahe One had no hair and the other treated his hair so badly he didn't deserve hair!
This is well tempting... Eddie, your horse racing tips are about a squillion times better than mine so maybe discretion should be the better part of valour
